TORONTO — Sgt. Benjamin Anthony, a veteran Israeli Defence Forces combat soldier, was in Toronto last week to speak to Jewish students about his experiences fighting in Israel’s recent conflicts.

“Combat is a scenario that one cannot fully understand until you have actually participated in it,” Anthony said during an interview with The CJN.

But Anthony, who founded Our Soldiers Speak, a non-profit organization that aims to present facts about Israel’s recent conflicts and military campaigns, travels around the world hoping to shed some light on IDF soldiers’ experiences.

Anthony, a graduate of the University of Manchester, said he was inspired to start the organization in 2006 when he was asked to give a speech at a Yom Hazikaron event in his native United Kingdom.

“One of the local synagogues had forgotten to mark Yom Hazikaron… And out of sheer desperation, they contacted me [to deliver] a seven-minute talk,” he recalled.

“[I] reluctantly decided to speak for 20 minutes because it’s not a subject one can deal with in seven minutes.”

Later that year, Anthony, who had moved from the United Kingdom to Israel to join the army in his mid-20s, was encouraged to organize lectures to share his first-hand experience of serving with the IDF.  

Anthony attributed his decision to move to Israel to his father.

“My father ensured that within our blood flowed a fervour of Zionistic interest, support, and the idea that words are cheap… Action is what is required. Correct action at the right time.”  

To date, Our Soldiers Speak has organized lectures at more than 120 universities in the United Kingdom, South Africa, the United States and Canada, and has plans to present lectures in Israel as well.

Anthony, who spoke at campuses and other Jewish centres throughout Ontario last month, met with some opposition when he visited the University of Western Ontario on Jan 19.

Most of those who gathered at the event were anti-Israel protesters, but once the protesters left, students who were interested in hearing what Anthony had to say were able to enjoy the lecture.

He said that dealing with protesters who resist his message isn’t uncommon.

“Certainly [there are] threats, difficulties and those who bear you ill will… It may be easier to become intimidated by that, but there are two factors that are important to me,” Anthony explained.

“The first factor is it’s not nearly as intimidating as the things I have experienced in the past as a soldier in the field… But the second is this – whatever the threat, danger… it’s not nearly as bad as it will become if we do not push back.”

Anthony, who recognizes that there are many students who support Israel and his cause said, “I am grateful for them and for their support. They do not go unnoticed.”

But, he added, sometimes moral support isn’t enough.

“It troubles me that there are so many pro-Israel students, pro-Zionist, pro-Jewish [individuals], but feel that that is enough and feel that they do not need to ask, debate or present themselves… and that is a huge error.”

In a call to all students who care about the State of Israel, Anthony said,  “Please know that anything I am able to achieve on the front lines of combat will never be nearly as consequential as the actions you undertake in the battle for public opinion.

“So you must find your courage and live by your convictions.”